California's Plastic Bag Ban, AB 1998, would be the strongest policy on plastic litter in the nation. AB 1998 would prevent the littering of up 19 billion bags annually. Plastic bags are a significant source of plastic litter.

Felicity Barringer wrote in the New York Times that the goal of the bill is "to prompt 21st-century shoppers in California to do what 20th-century shoppers in Moscow did routinely — keep an avoska, or reusable sack, at the ready. China and Bangladesh already have plastic bag bans in place, and the United Nations has called for the bans to go global. California has gone further toward an overall ban than any other state."